Ezra Klein

Historians of the future may one day write that the death of the New Deal began this year. If so, it goes without saying that corrupt forces like the Chamber of Commerce will be a big part of the story. So will billionaire ideologues like Pete Peterson, and greedy politicians looking for a handout. Unfortunately, so will a lot of reasonable people whose biggest problem is that they're temperamentally inclined toward being reasonable and moderate - even when circumstances don't warrant it.

The problem's become so severe that it will take more than one day to address it. It will require criticizing people that I respect, and who in some cases I've met and like personally. A great many moderately-minded individuals seem to have been lulled into accepting a Washington consensus in which the "new normal" means accepting that only remaining choice is between a radical assault on the middle class and a moderately radical assault on the middle class. In that world, a "judicious" assessment of Republican radicalism can easily turn into accommodationism. That can lead in turn to bad deals that create needless suffering.

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It's almost like they had a plan. The right-wing has been trying to dismantle the New Deal since its inception, but after decades of failure it's found a new path to success. They're already persuaded quite a few Democrats to support the first steps toward dismantling Medicare and Social Security. They've also convinced a lot of journalists to ignore detailed economic analyses, and accept the ideological platforms of the far right as "moderate" and "reasonable."

How do you do it? How do you sell a nation on dismantling its most popular programs at a time when they're more needed than ever? How do you convince an entire class of people - the middle class - to voluntarily surrender their health and financial security to benefit those who are far wealthier than they are?

Well, we found it! We found the twenty-year-old PowerPoint presentation that outlines the whole thing - the radical agenda, and the 12-point marketing plan that made it possible. Here it is, available to the public for the first time anywhere: more »

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Ezra Klein has a prominently displayed piece in the Washington Post this morning, entitled The Pro-Social Security case for Social Security reform. He takes to task liberals most committed to Social Security for being unwilling to “reform” Social Security out of fear that reform would turn out to harm the system. more »

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Economic policy has faced grave challenges over the past two years, hamstrung by obstructionist Republicans in the U.S. Senate and Wall Street-friendly advisers in the Obama administration. With the Republican Party now in control of the House, it seems certain that any major action to create jobs will face tremendous obstacles. This is a global calamity. more »

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This week Leonard Downie, the former Executive Editor of the Washington Post, attacked blogs in general and the Huffington Post specifically, saying they're "parasites" who live off "journalism produced by others." His comment would have carried more weight if Downie's old newspaper still produced all its own journalism, instead of outsourcing a portion of its reporting function to a bureau funded by a special interest group. (See correction/clarification, below.)

Downie's comment about blogs whose "opinions reflecting a predictable point of view on the left or the right of the political spectrum" unfortunately also applies to his former employer. This slant is most unforgivable in its news coverage, given that paper's claim of journalistic objectivity. In fact, the Post's coverage of Social Security and the budget deficit makes it the poster child for media outlets who are accelerating their own demise by compromising their professional standards in the pursuit of leaner business models. more »

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Ezra Klein has a pretty silly post up about the Wall Street regulation bill and the SEC's funding. He argues that since the SEC failed miserably in the years leading up to the crisis, it's absurd to see them getting more funding in its aftermath. more »

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The bloggers who attended briefings from a "senior Treasury Department official" last week have interpreted the concept of "deep background" in several different ways. I attended one of the briefings and initially didn't plan to write about it at all. Others did write about it. One writer named the official, while others did not. (I still won't.) Ezra Klein never discussed the meeting, but did address the "meta-discussion." Felix Salmon and Derek Thompson named the attendees, but due to an email mixup there was no name tag for me - which is presumably why neither one mentioned my name, an omission that provided some undoubtedly much-needed ego deflation.

(But come on, guys! If somebody doesn't mention me soon I'll have to give my travel expenses back! Blue suit, gray hair, asked the follow-ups on Social Security and principal writedowns? Doesn't ring a bell? Ezra, will you vouch for me?) more »

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Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is the Republican Party's latest effort at putting forward a credible economic ideologist. His recent interview with Ezra Klein reveals this effort to be a complete failure. more »

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Ezra Klein needs to stop repeating bank lobby smears against Elizabeth Warren. more »

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People are saying that the so-called Cadillac tax "might fall flat" and "has real problems."  And those are its defenders.  I can't remember any new policy in recent history whose own advocates had so many complaints with its design. more »

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